Skitz Blackheaven will be stepping down from his lead vocals and lead guitar duties at Astral Eyes. He will be going a more Progressive Metal direction with his new band In Spades.

The management at Vampiress Records wishes Skitz Blackheaven the very best of luck! Vampiress Records has had excellent experiences with Skitz and notes that he’s very easy to work with, and a pleasant person as well. We’re hoping he has immediate success with his new band.

Skitz played a vital role restoring Astral Eyes since when he joined, it was a dying band. More importantly to us, we were losing money.

Now, Astral Eyes is poised to make us money and it’s partially because of Skitz. So, thank you Skitz. We sincerely wish you the best!

Credits

Roman wrote and orchestrated all the music. Skitz wrote the lyrics for Kiss from the Blade, Black Flames Unleashed, and Glass Rose. He also played lead guitar on those three songs. Roman wrote the lyrics to and played lead guitar on Darvulia.

Randy Burk of Stout Recording Studio in Alameda, California, produced this EP and also played all the drums. Harmony vocals performed by Skitz and Roman. Randy also added additional vocals.

All Violins I, Violins II, Violas, and bass guitars performed by session musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Russia. Full credits will appear in the liner notes.

This EP will be available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. You’ll be able to purchase physical CDs directly from us at our shows.

And if you haven’t seen it yet, Astral Eyes released one video from this EP. This is Darvulia:

Upcoming

The band is working on an entirely Classical EP without any lyrics, to be released on May 7, 2018. In the meantime, definitely check out their upcoming EP on Halloween. They want to release often. Thus, the Kiss from the Blade EP with four brand new songs, and another EP to be released less than a year later.

They will only be releasing one video from the upcoming EP. Roman and Randy are currently working on mixing the EP. Justin Weis of Trakworx will be providing the mastering services.

Astral Eyes released their second single from their upcoming second album. Although they won’t be releasing the album until next year, we’ll try to get you three preview singles before it gets released. The band really wants to convince you that this album is going to be your favorite album of 2018!

The video will be filmed in Oakland. As they went artsy with Darvulia, their previous single and video, this time will be more straight up Metal!

Skitz Blackheaven and Roman are back! The second album is coming along nicely. However, it won’t be released until next year as it’s quite epic! Astral Eyes Darvulia is an example of the future direction of Romantic Metal.

In the meantime though, enjoy the very first single off of the upcoming album. This is the story of Anna Darvulia, the mentor and lover of Elizabeth Bathory. All you Metalheads should know all about Elizabeth Bathory.

Lyrics to Astral Eyes Darvulia

Lovely lady
Serving your needs
I exist just to please you my grace

This much is true
Black is my hue
I am well versed in ancient ways

Lovely lady
Burning desire
Abhorring the fact that beauty fades

Leave it to me
Knowing all things
Let me be your devoted sage

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

Lovely lady
Take what you need
Bathe in this red pool of innocence

Peasant by class
Taking them fast
Laws of nobles need not apply

Condemned to burn
The witch within please
Wait for me as I am running to the hills

Dark forest hide
for my life
Will my true love come for me

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

(Roman solos)

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
In a world so cruel
Become the beast

Astral Eyes has released the Darvulia single. The song is about a witch who historians claim was an accomplice to Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer in history. It’s actually a three-way love affair between Anna Darvulia, Elizabeth Bathory, and a younger man.

Anna Darvulia actually died before Elizabeth Bathory was put to trial. Darvulia’s death is unclear. Some historians believed it to be a suicide and some say she was executed. Yet others claimed she died of natural causes before the trial commenced.

Astral Eyes’ Darvulia single has been released

Darvulia lyrics

Lovely lady
Serving your needs
I exist just to please you my grace

This much is true
Black is my hue
I am well versed in ancient ways

Lovely lady
Burning desire
Abhorring the fact that beauty fades

Leave it to me
Knowing all things
Let me be your devoted sage

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

Lovely lady
Take what you need
Bathe in this red pool of innocence

Peasant by class
Taking them fast
Laws of nobles need not apply

Condemned to burn
The witch within please
Wait for me as I am running to the hills

Dark forest hide
for my life
Will my true love come for me

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

(Roman solos)

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
Little cries to preserve your divinity

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
When I’m dead take my hand and come dance with me

You’re so beautiful
It’s you I love
You’re so beautiful
In a world so cruel
Become the beast

Where to buy

Astral Eyes has released their Redivivus single from their debut album “Another Sacrifice Gone Wrong.”

Astral Eyes’ Redivivus single has been released

The song Redivivus is about the Roman Emperor Nero as the Anti-Christ. Rated as quite possibly the worst Emperor, Nero was known for feeding Christians to the lions and using Christians as human torches at his palace. He also spent ridiculous amounts of money on entertainment and caused quite a debt. And let’s not forget, having his own mother murdered as she was a threat to his political power.

After beating his favorite wife to death because she confronted him about his gambling problem, Nero had a slave who looked like her castrated, and married that slave. Nero called the slave by his dead wife’s name and treated the slave as his dead wife.

We’re talking serious insanity here.

Nero and the Christian faith

Needless to say, Nero wasn’t too popular with Christians. After his death, many Romans believed Nero would come back and conquer Rome. The Christians incorporated the Nero Redivivus legend into the Biblical Anti-Christ story because it was a perfect fit. The Number of the Beast matched Nero. Also, who treated Christians worse than Nero?

Musically, this song embodies Romantic Metal. Roman scored the piece for Metal band, two trumpets, two trombones, and strings.

The band enjoyed making every video. They would love to work with each of their actresses again. Alice appeared in three videos and Nitda appeared in two. They will be hiring several of the actresses again for videos on the second album.

The promo pictures

Here are pictures from each video.

Astral Eyes Up in Flames

They filmed Up in Flames in Chico, California. It rained heavily that day. The band reported that they only had a few hours to shoot and spent much of the day taking cover from the rain. Still, it turned out pretty good for a first video.

Astral Eyes Creature of the Night

It also rained when they filmed Creature of the Night. Luckily, they had an indoor alternative. You see the rain in the limo scenes. Look out the window! Yes, it rained.

So the band scratched all the outdoor scenes. It turned out for the best though. We loved how that video turned out.

Skitz wrote the script to It’s Over. Here’s one of the promo pictures from the set:

Astral Eyes It’s Over

Skitz wanted to have an homage martial arts video. It’s samurais and ninjas with bad guys and a damsel in distress. Straight up homage video.

Lastly, we ventured to the Las Vegas desert for the final video. Always good to enjoy a weekend in Vegas. Succubus was filmed the first weekend of September. Roman did everything. He wrote it. He directed it. And he edited it.

Astral Eyes Succubus

From here on out, Astral Eyes will be directing their own videos. Roman used to work for Bleeding Ulcer Productions and Skitz has a degree in Media Arts with an emphasis on video editing. Therefore, they were made to do this.